A House in Ararat

A House in Ararat

This fabulous Art Deco house is in Ararat.

It is a wonderful arrangement of coloured bricks and cream rendered sections topped off with a stunning deco porch. The low wall is simple and stylish and allows the beautiful house to been seen by passing foot and car traffic. A strip of garden outside the wall beside the footpath gives passers-by another reason to linger and enjoy this lovely property.

I think I caught this place at a wonderful time of year with the Autumn colours of the specimen tree in the front garden contrasting against the tall native Australian trees behind the house.

A House in Ararat

This sweet little deco house is in the Victorian town of Ararat.

I really like the porthole window near the door. It is framed in the same bricks that have been used in the two lines that run around the entire front of the house.

It is difficult to see in the top photo but the corners of the house are curved and the windows cut across them to creating an interesting effect. I also like the small eyebrow above the window on the right hand side of the house.

Ararat Hotel, Ararat

The Ararat Hotel, in Barkly Street, Ararat was built around the end of 1939 or the start of 1940. It must have caused quite a stir when it arrived in rural Victoria just a war was starting.

The main features are the large fins supporting the curved balconies about the main doorway.

Also there is a decorative Art Deco panel above each of the windows.

I'll have to go back when it is open and have a beer. All in the name of research, of course, to see if there is any decoration inside.

Reference:

Landmark Disappearing, COUNTRY NEWS. (1939, June 9). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848-1954), p9

Retrieved March 4, 2011, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12137293

A house in Ararat

A first look this house in Ararat is a fairly conventional house with a pitched roof but the closer you look the more details emerge.

Firstly, the low wall around the property is constructed of several different coloured bricks. The house itself introduces a couple of other brick colours aswell.

Each of the windows is cut into the corners of the house.

The porch at the front door uses glass bricks to interesting effect, highlighting the stepped decoration between the brick pillars.

And then we have the chimneys. Rendered white slabs against the creams of the bricks of the house and the tiles of the roof. Stepped higher and wider in the centre compared to each side, a design echoed in the three vertical lines on the front of each chimney.

Ararat Town Entry Signage

The Ararat Advertiser reported on 25 Mar 2008 that the Ararat Rural City Council had adopted a new design for signage on the main road entrances to the town.

The design incorporates details from Ararat's Art Deco buildings in front of a Mount Langi Ghiran backdrop. It already features on flags in some of the town's roundabouts and three dimensional installations of the new design will be located at each of the five main entry points to the town.

Ararat is a former gold-mining town located in rural Victoria on the Western Highway and is recognised as the Gateway to the Grampians.

The Advertiser article reports that several Councillors did not like the new design and one even said it left her cold.

I love it. The colours are subtle and it uses town Art Deco assets to provide unique branding for the town. The concept of Rural Deco has become quite popular in recent years with the concept most notably at Innisfail in Queensland and Ranfurly on the South Island of New Zealand.

Congratulations to Ararat Rural City Council I look forward to visiting the town in the next few weeks and see their Art Deco buildings for myself.